'Stranger Things' fans crash museum website over a hoodie
In season 2 of "Stranger Things," character Dustin Henderson dons a purple hoodie with a Brontosaurus on the front. Now everybody wants one.
Curly-haired, headset-wearing "Stranger Things" character Dustin Henderson, played by Gaten Matarazzo, has sported some great '80s fashion in season 2 of the show, but a hoodie he wore in the first episode has fans going wild.
So much so, in fact, they crashed the Science Museum of Minnesota website when similar hoodies went on sale at 8 a.m. Tuesday.
The purple hoodie shows the Science Museum of Minnesota logo with a Brontosaurus skeleton and the words "Thunder Lizard" below it. "Stranger Things" costume designer Kim Wilcox says she found the vintage sweatshirt when searching for '80s fashion inspiration online, according to Newsweek, and decided it was the perfect fit for Dustin.
"I really loved the Brontosaurus for Dustin, so we bought the original," Wilcox said. "Then we made our own purple hoodie with this great dinosaur art in Gaten's size."
The hoodies, tee shirts and crew neck sweatshirts come in both kid and adult sizes.
Once the episode aired, fans started calling, emailing and tweeting the museum in the hunt for the purple hoodie originally sold in the '80s, and museum employees decided to bring it back. But shortly after sales opened at 8 a.m. Tuesday, the site crashed from the weight of visitors. It was back up by 11 a.m., and by 4 p.m. the museum had sold 10,000 hoodies, T-shirts and crew necks, totaling over $400,000.
The adult hoodie goes for $36.95 (roughly £28, AU$48), but prices vary depending on type and size. Most of the museum's inventory was sold by noon Tuesday, but the site currently accepts orders for all of the apparel. It's not clear when items will ship, but the museum is happy with the publicity.
"For us, we're just relishing this opportunity to be connected to the popular show, especially one that has characters that are interested in science," said the museum's public relations director, Kim Ramsden. "As a nonprofit, all of the proceeds will go back to our mission of science and education and inspiring other young kids like Dustin on the show and his friends to have an interest in science."
Crowd Control: A crowdsourced science fiction novel written by CNET readers.
Solving for XX: The tech industry seeks to overcome outdated ideas about "women in tech."